Screen supported paper bag for tank cleaners



April 1, 1952 A. E. SMITH 2,591,382

SCREEN SUPPORTED PAPER BAG FOR TANK CLEANERS Filed Oct. 50, 1948 2SHEETS-SHEET 1 Inventor: Ar-Chie E.5mith,

'8 His Attorgy.

April 1, 1952 A. E. SMITH 2,591,382

SCREEN SUPPORTED PAPER BAG FOR TANK CLEANERS Filed Oct. 30, 1948 2SHEETSSHEET 2 Inventor: Archie E.Smich,

His Attorney.

Patented Apr. 1, 1952 SCREEN SUPPORTED PAPER BAG FOR TANK CLEANERSArchie E. Smith, Stratford, Conn, assignor to General Electric Company,a corporation of New York Application October 30, 1948, Serial No.57,558

. 6 Claims. 183--51) My invention relates to vacuum cleaners and moreparticularly to disposable dust bags for vacuum cleaners. Although theinvention will be shown and described in connection with tanktypecleaners, it is obvious that it is not confined to vacuum cleaners ofthat type.

One of the annoying tasks in using most present vacuum cleaners is thenecessity of emptying the dust bag from time to time as it becomesfilled with dust. Various expedients for eliminating the emptying ofvacuum cleaner bags have been tried from time to time, and among themore successful of these has been the provision of an inner disposableliner for the usual cloth bag of the cleaner. These liners have beenmade of inexpensive porous paper and when it is desired to empty thedust out of the regular bag, the disposable liner, together with theaccumulated dust is removed from the bag and thrown away, being replacedby another, clean, liner.

My invention relates to a disposable dust bag for a vacuum cleaner,which may be used as a liner for a conventional cloth dust bag, oralternatively, as the-only dust collector in a cleaner. In the lattercase, provision may be made for a screen wire or other permanent bagsupport if the disposable liner is made of material so weak it wouldtear when subjected to the weight of dirt in a full bag or the maximumfan-pressure due to a dirt-sealed bag or both. One object of myinvention is to increase, the dust filtering area in cleaners, andparticularly in cleaners using disposable dust bags. Still anotherobJ'ect of my invention is to provide for a disposable bag in standarddesigns of cleaners without making major modification to the cleanerstructure. A further object of my invention is to provide an improvedform of disposable dust bag and associated structures so that the bagcan be inserted in the cleaner and removed easily without subjecting theuser to the handling of dirty surfaces.

All of these objects and others are obtained by making a bag of specialdesign, and by adding a few simple parts to conventional vacuum cleanerconstructions.

Other objects and the details of that which I believe to be novel and myinvention will be clear from the following description and claims takenwith the accompanying drawings in which are illustrated two examples ofvacuum cleaners embodying the present invention and incorporatingdisposable dust bags. I

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation View of a known type of vacuumcleaner with parts broken away in order to show one form of myinvention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of the parts shown in the upperleft-hand corner of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 butshowing a modified form of my invention; Fig. 4 is a perspective of oneof the parts shown in Fig. 3, with portions broken away for clarity;Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation of the bag supporting frame of Fig. 3;Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of a conventional vacuum cleaner bagsuch as is used with the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and Fig. '7 is amore or less diagrammatic layout of a dust collecting bag according tomy invention.

Because my invention is designed for application to known types ofvacuum cleaner constructions, this specification will be clear if knownstructures are first described. In both of the forms shown in thedrawing, the cleaner is of tank-type having the usual cylindricalcleaner body I which may carry a handle 2, skids or runners 3 and otherapppropriate parts such as a means for connection to electrical power, aswitch, and other devices which are not shown. Mounted within the bodyisthe usual motor 4 which may be supported by a motor mounting ring orwall 5 within the interior of the cleaner body. A fan (not shown) isdriven by the motor and produces a flow of air therethrough.

At one end of the cleaner is an end cap 6 provided with the usual airinlet 1 which is adapted for connection to an attachment hose whichcarries the cleaning attachments.

At the other end of the body is provided another end cap 8 which has theusual air outlet (not shown). The end caps are removably held on theends of the body by any suitable means, as is usual.

In Figs. 1 and 2 and more particularly in Fig. 6 I have shown a type ofcloth dust collecting bag which has been previously used with vacuumcleaners of the above-described character. This bag assembly includes anupper or outer metal ring 9 with outturned edge It. Secured to this ringas by brazing, welding, or the like, are a series of spaced bagsupporting rods II which may be held together at their opposite ends bya frame ring l2. On the outside of this generally cylindrical frame adust'filtering bag 13 of cloth or other suitable material is secured asby wire ring 14 which passes around the. open mouth of the bag and istightly seated in the annular groove I5 near one end of. the ring 9.

The other end of this bag ring, including the cated at 2|.

supporting ring 9, and filtered air then goes through the cleaner to theoutlet in the other end cap. In order to increase the filtering area ofthe bag as well as to make the cleaner more compact, an inner somewhatconical bag frame may be used, composed of the wires I8 which aresupported in any suitable fashion, for instance, by bent lugs It onthemotor mounting.

frame 5.

The improvements according to my invention are based upon an open mouthdust collecting bagof special shape, this bag being indicated bythe-numeral 2E! wherever itappears in the drawings; In Fig.- 7 the solidlines indicate-the shape of the bag before it is inserted in thecleaner,

and thedash lines show thepositions of parts of the bag when in use. Inthe form of Figs. 1 and 2 this inner bag is shaped so that it closelyconforms to the shape of the bottom and most ol' the sides of thecloth'bag 13. At a pointnear the mouth of the cloth bag, the inner bagstarts to reduce in diameter so that it is spaced away from the clothbag and the bag frame as indi- The neck of this inner bag cntlnues to bereduced in diameter so that it approaches the diameter of the inlet 1.

The inner bag is removably supported in the proper position within thecleaner by means of the cloth bag and its frame, and by a removabledome-like bell or support 22 which has an outturned flange 23 adapted toseat and seal against the gasket IS. The mouth of the inner bag 2!)passes through a central opening 24 of this bell, and the bag; is thenflared outwardly so that it can'be turned back on itself and seat aroundthe outside end of the supporting bell as shown An annular sealingcushion or gasket 26 of sponge rubber or other suitable material, makesThe gasket 26 in the form of Figs. 1' and 2 may be cemented or otherwisesuitably secured to the end cap. It should be resilient enough so thata-proper' seal with the bell and with the end of the-bag will be made atthis point and also that the flange 23 on the bell will be pressedfirmly against the gasket [6.

The-bag 20 may be made'of porous paper or similar felted material whichneed not have --much strength, as compared to the usual cloth vacuumcleaner bag. However, this bag should have good dust filteringproperties and be capable of withstanding tearing stresses to somedegree so that it may be handled as hereinafter described. Suitablematerials for this purpose are. readily available and need not befurther described.

When using the dust collecting bag of my invention, wewill assume thatwe have simply a an'ola clean bag inserted and used as above destandardcleaner with the conventional cloth dust bag in place. The end cap 6 hasbeen removed, and it is desired to use the dust collecting bag of myinvention. The first step in using the bag 20 is to insert the samewithin the already existing cloth bag of the cleaner. The frame membersIt of the cloth bag'and the frame l8, if used, help guide the disposablebag into proper position. The mouth of the bag '20 is then gatheredtogetl er by hand and pushed through the opening 2 of the bell 22. Thebell is then seated against the gasket is and the flared outer end ofthe bag is turned backward to the position 25 on the outside of the bellaround the bell opening. It being understood that the sealing gasket 25has previously been placed in proper position, the end cap 5 is thenapplied to the cleaner body and secured in place, sealing the innerparts in their proper positions. The cleaner can then be operated andair will flow substantially in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 2. Itis to be noted that in addition to the normal air flow through the usualcloth bag and bag frame, there will also .be a flow of air through thedust filtering bag, in the portion between the bell opening 24 and thespace 2!, into the area marked 2'! inside of the bell. Because the space2i is below the edge of the ring 9, air can flow from the s'paceZl,through the bag l3 to normal exhaust. tween the opening 24 and the space2| represents an added filtering surface which in some cases may amountto as much as 20 per cent of additional filtering area. 7

To remove the dust collector bag, all that is necessary is to releasethe end cap and remove it, gather up the clean outer edge 25 of the batwist it closed, remove, the bell 22, and lift the bag out by its cleantwisted end. The bag, together with the dust contained therein may bethrown away, burned, or otherwise disposed of scribed.

The advantage of the form of Figs. 1 and2 is that if a replacement bagis not available, the cleaner can be used without the disposable bag inthe conventional manner, whether with or without the bell 22. However,in cases where. a supply of disposable bags is assured, or if a morepermanent type of filter support is desired, the form of Figs. 3 through5 is to be preferred. This second form has certain other advantageswhich will be obvious from the description.

In this form, the cleaner; has the body, end cap 6 and inlet opening Ipreviously described,

but does; not use a cloth bag as a support for the disposable bag. Inplace of the cloth bag of the first form this second form uses a stiffsupport in the form of a perforated metal or wire screen 26 supported inthe cleaner as by a suitable wire frame as which is secured to a ring30; This ring 30 hasan outturned edge 3| similar to the edge it of thecloth dust bag assembly, and is surrounded by a rubber gasket 32 whichhas sealed engagement with an annular ridge 33 on the end cap in amanner similar to that of the other form. Located at intervals on thering 36 are slots or holes 34 which, when the ring is in place, arespaced from the walls of the cleaner body I. I prefer to use six ofthese holes or slots around the circumference of the ring 30 although itis obvious that any other suitable number might be used. The purpose ofthese openings will appear later.

A bell or dome 35 similar to the dome 22 of The bag area be providedwith additional structure for supporting a portion of the filtering bag.The additional support is in the form of a cone of perforatedmetal orwire screen 36 which extends from an opening 31 in the end of the bellto a point near a flange 38 which extends around the edge of the bell.hold a screen supporting ring 40 in spaced relation to the edge of thebell, as is shown most clearly in Fig. 4. The screen is suitably securedto the ring 40 and also to the inside of the opening 31, leaving a space2! inside of the bell as in the first form. A space 4| is therebyprovided between the edge of the bell and the ring 40 for flow of airfrom the space 21. This space 4| in function may be compared with thespace 2i of the first form, when the openings 34 through the ring 30 areregarded as a continuationof this space.

A sponge rubber sealing gasket 26 might be provided and positioned as inthe first form shown, but I have elected to show another manner ofmounting the gasket in connection with this second form. As illustrated,I may provide a gasket 42 which is cemented or otherwise suitablysecured to the end of the bell 35. When the end cap of the cleaner isput in place, and the dust collecting bag 20 is properly positionedaround the bell end, this sealing gasket 42 will provide a seal betweenthe end cap and the dust bag, the gasket itself acting as a seal in thiscase between the end of the bag and the bell.-

As before, the turned back portion 25 on the end of the dust collectingbag is in a dust free area outside of the bell and between the gaskets42 and 32.

In this form the screen cone 35 supports the dust collecting bag awayfrom the inside of the bell and provides a definite air passage forfiltering between the opening 37 of the bell and the ring 40 below thebell. The arrows in Fig. 3 show a flow of air not only through thedisposable dust bag opposite screen 28 but also through the bag betweenthe reduced neck portion and the base of the cone 33. Air from the area21 flows through the space 4| and then through the openings 34 to thespace outside of the screen 28.

It will be noted that the lower edge of the ring 40 extends below theopenings 34 so that there is no chance that the bag will collapseagainst these openings to prevent air flow from the space 21.

Brackets 39 can serve an. additional function through the provision ofspaced button 43. These buttons help position the bottom of the bellwithin the gasket ring 30 while the bell is being inserted within thecleaner. For this reason, the outside of the buttons is rounded asshown.

Manipulation of the parts of the form shown in Figs. 3 through 5 isidentical with that of the first form. However. because the supportingstructures are made of stiiT material such as wire screen, they are muchmore permanent than the cloth bag which supports the dust collector ofFigs. 1 and 2. Furthermore, the screen cone 35 together with theassociated spacing elements insure that the tapered throat area of thebag will be used for filtering. This is not always positive in the formof Figs. 1 and 2 because of the necessity of holding the dimensions ofthe bag and supporting structure to reasonable manufacturing tolerances.Then, if the bag were made a little bit too big, or not properlypositioned,

A suitable number of spaced brackets 39 there might be no space 2| asshown in-the first form.

Regarding the bag form itself, the shape shown in Fig. 7 has someadvantages over other shapes which might also be used according to myinvention. It should be obvious that the tapering of the bag from thegenerally cylindrical body shape to the reduced diameter at the neckportion permits a close approximation to the dimensions of the air inletat this end while at the same time it provides a full diameter bagelsewhere for filtering dust laden air; Not so obvious is the point thatthis reduced neck assists in closing the end of the bag by twisting,when it is desired to dispose of the bag. Because the bag is neveremptied in the usual sense, there is no objection to a reduced bagdiameter at this point. The flared open mouth is useful in providing anincreased area for handling the bag as well as in affording the neededsubstantially increased diameter so that the bag can be easily turnedback on itself into the gasketed area outside of the dust-laden airstream.

The conical closed end of the bag is provided to increase the filteringarea, being turned inwardly in use as indicated at the right hand end ofFig. 7. However, it should be obvious that the closed end might be madin any other shape desired, depending upon the filtering arearequirements or the individual design of the cleaner with which it isused.

As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of myinvention are not limited to the particular details of construction ofthe examples illustrated, and I contemplate that various and othermodifications and applications of the invention will occur to thoseskilled in. the art. It is therefore my intention that the appendedclaims shall cover such modifications and applications as do not departfrom the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. In a vacuum cleaner having a disposable dust collecting bag removablymounted within the cleaner body, the bag having an open mouth with anoutwardly flared end portion including a smaller part and a larger partadapted for closing and handling the bag upon removal from the body,that improvement which comprises a support entirely within said cleanerbody surrounding the smaller part of said flared end portion of saidbag, said'support being removably mounted within said cleaner body andsaid bag being removably held by said support with the larger part ofsaid flared end portion extending through and positioned outwardlyagainst the support, and a resilient annular gasket releas ably sealingthe outwardly positioned part of the bag end portion to the support andthe support to said cleaner body, said gasket constituting the solemeans resiliently holding the flared bag end between the support and thebody.

2. In a vacuum cleaner of the type having a body with a removable endcap and an air inlet in the end cap, that improvement which comprises adisposable dust collecting bag of flexible porous filtering materialremovably mounted in said body, a porous dust bag support in the body. anon-porous supporting bell independently removably mounted on said bodyunder said end cap and having anopening opposite said air inlet, atapered neck and flared open mouth on said bag, a porous cone-shapedsupport in said bell for supporting the tapered neck within the 7 hellbut spaced therefrom, the flared mouth of the bag extending through thebell' opening to the outside of the bell inside the end cap, and

resilient seal, and removably securing the mouth of the bag to the bellaround said inlet and 'said bell opening a-nd'sealing said flare mouthfrom said air inlet.

3. In a vacuum cleaner of the type haying a body with a removable endcap and an air inlet in the end cap, that improvement which coinprises aflexible, porousdust filtering bag re movably mounted in said body, abag supporting bell removably mounted with respect to said bag,

said end cap and said body, said bell being located inside said end cap,said bell having an opening therein opposite said air inlet or"substantially the same size as said inlet, an open ended mouth onthe bagwith a reduced diameter neck portion extending into the bell and throughthe bell opening, a flared outer end on the bag extending to the outsideof the bell around said opening, and an annular gasket sealing theoutside of the bell and the flared end of said bag'mouth from the airinlet and from the bell opening, said gasket resiliently clamping theneck of the bag between said bell and said end cap around said air inletand bell opening, thereby supporting said bag, when said end cap is inplace.

4.111 a vacuum cleaner of the type having a generally cylindricalopen-ended tank with a.

removable end cap for the open end and an air inlet opening in the endcap, that improvement which comprises a disposable flexible, porous dustcollecting bag having a body adapted to be removably received in saidtank upon "removal of said end cap, a porous dust bag support in saidtank for receiving and supporting said bag body, a non-porous bagsupporting bell remov ably mounted under said end cap with edgesextending to the cylindrical sides of the tank and having an openingopposite said air inlet of substantially the same size as said inlet, a

neck portion on said bag of substantially less diameter than said bodyof said bag extending inside said belland spaced therefrom excepting atsaid bell opening, a flared open mouth on said neck of substantiallygreater diameter than said ably sealing and holding the mouth of saidbag between said bell and cap outside of said bell but inside of saidend cap when said cap is in place, and a resilient gasket sealing saidbell at its edge from said tank sides, whereby the flared mouth portionof said bag is sealed from air flow outside of the bell but under thecap.

5, In a vacuum cleaner of the type having a body with an end capremovably mounted there on and an air inlet for a suction hosein the endcap, that improvement which comprises a disposable, porous, flexible,dust filtering bag with a main portion removably mounted in said body, aporous dust bag support for said main bag portion in the body, anon-porous bag supporting bell mounted in said body, removably heldtherein by and under said end cap, and removable from said bodyindependently of both said end cap and said dust bag when said end capis removed, said bell, when held in place, having an opening locatedopposite said end cap air inlet, a neck portion on said bag taperinginwardly from the main bag portion and supported in spaced relationinside the major portion of the bell, an outwardly flared open mouth onsaid bag, said flared mouth extending through the bell opening to theoutside of the bell under the end cap, and a resilient annular sealinggasket extending and pressing between the bell and the end cap aroundthe bell opening and air inlet, said gasket resiliently holding the bellin the body and securing the flared mouth of the bag around the bellopening and sealing it from the air inlet when said end cap is in place.

6. In a suction cleaner having an open ended body containing an air flowproducing unit, an end cap with a centrally disposed inlet opening atits apex removably closing the open end of the body, and a porous bagsupport with a marginal resilient gasket seated on said open end, saidbag support extending into said body and held in place in said body bysaid end cap, that improvement in a disposable dirt filteringarrangement for said cl aner comprising an air impervious dome-shapedmember removably held by said end cap extending between said resilientgasket on said bag support and the apex of said end cap, saiddome-shaped member having a central opening adjacent said end cap inletwhen said cap and domeare in place, a compressible annular sealsurrounding said cap inlet and said dome opening between the cap anddome at the apex and completing a sealed space between the cap and domeoutside of air flow from the inlet through the cleaner body, a bag offlexible porous dust filtering material with a main portion removablyheld in said porous bag support, a neck portion on said bag taperingfrom said main body portion to a diameter substantially equal to saidopening in the dome-shaped member, said neck extending inside of butspaced from said dome, with its end portion extending through said domeopening, a flared open mouth on said bag of increased diameter extendingfrom said neck and folded outside of said dome into said sealed space,said neck and mouth being thereby V sealed from air entering the inletin the end cap.

ARCHIE E. SMITH.

REFERENCES orrni) The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany June 19, 1930

